Hi Worksongers!
Several months ago I asked Max Godfrey, Georgia worksonger, literature scholar, storyteller and farmer, to write a guest post on worksongs.org. As one of the most clear-thinking, sweet hollering, kindest-hearted friends I have- with an instantly recognizable, all-powerful worksonging voice and technique- I thought he might have some good experience to share with all of you.

So he wrote something up and I'm sending it out to you today for some weekend inspiration.

Here is a teaser...

...Because when you've been harvesting all morning and find yourself out in the field at 3 pm, dog-tired and starving for lunch but still trying to transplant a round of seedlings before the afternoon rainstorm blows in, your brain isn't much good for anything. Since the moments when work songs are the most important are the moments when the your head and your muscles have started to shut down, a work song must reside in some place deeper within your self if it is going to be of any use. You have to make a home for the work song in your gut.

Truthfully, I'm not sure anyone has ever written five better paragraphs than these about how to learn a worksong. So take a minute and check out this piece. I know you'll enjoy it.

Today at the Common Ground Fair in Unity, Maine:
11am: I'll join the Gawler Family and we'll sing a worksong or two along with other trad music
3p: Songs of Lumbering and Riverdriving: a rousing roundtable for worksongs of the woods.